In the fall of 2009, Dylan Baldi was an 18-year-old college student studying saxophone and sound recording at a small college near Cleveland, OH. He had played in bands around town since he was old enough to hold a guitar, but recently he’d been putting his solo music on record through the magic of home recordings. He titled the solo project “Cloud Nothings,” made a myspace page, friended some bands he liked, and sat back to wait.Lest you think it's all just distortion and noise, here's an alternate version of "Hey Cool Kids."
That’s when a certain NYC show promoter known for putting on shows in unorthodox venues emailed asking if Cloud Nothings wanted to play with buzz bands Real Estate and Woods at the Market Hotel. This happened to be the same date that Dylan had to play a mandatory performance with his college band or end up failing the class, which put him in the awkward position of having to decide if it was worthwhile to drop out of college to play a very first show with a non-existent band that had only been written about on a couple blogs and heard by a few people. We are most grateful for his decision.
Cloud Nothings play the Crocodile this Sunday, opening for Toro y Moi. More info on Cloud Nothings here. Check out a couple more songs after the jump:
Isabeli Fontana shot by David Sims, with styling by Emmanuelle Alt, for what looks to be a phenomenal April issue of Vogue Paris.
Forty years ago today Congress cancelled government funding for the Boeing 2707 (aka the SST – Supersonic Transport).
The company almost immediately laid off more than 50% of its workforce, temporarily crippling the economy of the Pacific Northwest (though I know it didn't feel temporary). Real estate agents Bob McDonald and Jim Youngren erected this sign near the aiport on Highway 99 and it became a Seattle icon:
KUOW aired an interesting show on the Boeing Bust this morning – click here to listen – and click here to watch a Braniff promotional video promoting supersonic travel: "You don't have to carry a passport, because a friendly computer already knows more about you than you do."
One of my all-time favorite photos of Emily, in front of the Piet Blom-designed Cube Houses in Rotterdam. 
Uta Barth. Untitled (05.3), 2005 (Chromogenic color prints. Henry Art Gallery, gift of Burt and Jane Berman, 2009.38 A) from a selection of Barth's photos curated by Sara Krajewski at the Henry through May 8th. Info at henryart.org.
March 21 is Mr. Littlejeans' birthday. It has been almost four months since we lost him and we still miss him every day. In December I commissioned Seattle artist Shannon Perry to paint this portrait of Jeans. We had picked the box up from a Chinese restaurant on Smith Street in Brooklyn (SMILE FACE 12 + 7 x 23 = we had to have it) and he immediately adopted it as his own – like, the second we put it on the floor. The painting now hangs in our bedroom, under a photo and invitation from our wedding. Littlejeans had a great life and packed more personality and experience into it than most of the higher mammals I have known. We will love you forever, little buddy.
